May 9 - Do You Recognize His Voice?

May 9 – Do You Recognize His Voice?

“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers. Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. (John 10:1-6)

Have you ever wandered (before you were a parent) around a large department store and wondered how several different children calling out, “Mom! Mom!” get the right parents to come looking for them.

I remember thinking about that when I was much younger.  But, even as a parent, I could hone in on the right voices of the children who were with me.  I loved them so I recognized their voice – no matter where they were.

Another thing I thought a lot about was the omnipresence of God … how, out of all the voices in the universe that cry out to Him, does He recognize mine.  I never get lost in the shuffle.  It isn’t like calling up a customer service center and getting placed on hold for 35 minutes only to have to repeat every single word I said because they had lost the information I gave them initially.

Not only does God recognize my voice when I call out, but He knows everything there is to know about me and the situation I’m in.  He knows what He is going to do and He knows how to care for me.

These are the kinds of things that occupy a lot of my mind as I can only praise Him for being so much more than I can comprehend. 

I can understand only minimally because I can only separate a few voices from the crowd.  But, in a large crowd, Jesus knows every single voice and knows their needs.

He knows His sheep and we recognize Him immediately because of the intimate care that He gives to each person individually.  He hears and recognizes your voice … do you recognize His?